Book Reports
We require a book report each month (some months are combined, see schedule below). You are
required to read a book from a different genre each month (one month may be a repeated genre) and
do either a report or a project and present it to the class by the due date. Some genres are better for
certain projects than others and some projects may not work for every book, so keep this in mind as
you are reading your book. The book you choose must be an appropriate reading level for you, at
least 100 pages long (non-fiction books must be at least 50 pages long), and book that you have not
read before or that have been used in class.
Book Report
Month
August/September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
Genre
Due Date:
Realistic Fiction
Friday, September 25th
Mystery
Friday, October 23rd
Historical Fiction
Friday, November 20th
Poetry (Choose a poem to memorize)
Friday, December 11th
Fantasy/Science Fiction
Friday, January 29th
Autobiography/Biography
Friday, February, 26th
Non-fiction
Friday, March 25th
Any book
Friday, April 26th
No book reports-present State Reports
Remember, you may only use each project once. Pick a project that works best for your book.
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Cereal Box-- After reading the book, choose a name for your cereal that relates to the story in
some way. Cover an empty cereal box with paper. Write a rough draft and draw sketches
before moving on to your final copy. Here are the guidelines for each side of the box: Front Write the name of your cereal and draw a picture to go with it. You might draw characters or
other pictures to help sell your product. Make your cereal box look appealing and fun. Back Design a game that is based on the story. It can be a puzzle, word game, or any other fun
activity that might be found on the back of a cereal box. Make sure it includes information from
the book. Right Side - Under the heading "Ingredients," list the main characters and write a
sentence about each one. Then describe the setting. Left Side - Write a summary of the
book. Describe the conflict and the resolution. Top - Write the title and the author of the book
and your name.
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Interview--Compile a list of questions you would like to ask a character in the book then
conduct a mock interview with that character. Write out a script of how the character
responded. This should be at least a page.
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New Ending-- After reading the book think about how the book ended. If you could go back to
the point in the book before the mystery was solved and rewrite the ending, what would
happen? How would things have turned out differently? Find the part of the book that you will
use as a starting point. Write a brief description of what has just occurred in the book and then
continue on with your new ending. It should be at least one page.
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Book Jacket--Design a new cover for your book including: title, author, publisher, graphics, and
a summary of the book to enthrall readers. This should be done on a piece of 12x18 art paper
(ask your teacher if you need supplies).
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Comic Strip-- Choose an important or exciting part of the book you would like to retell in your
comic strip. Write a one-paragraph summary of this part of the book. Refer to you summary as
you sketch your comic strip. Decide what you will include in each panel. Your comic strip
should include about eight panels in all.
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Book Review--In a book review, you share your understanding of and opinion about a book
you have read. A book review consists of 4 main parts, each main part in a different
paragraph. The first paragraph needs to tell us the book you read, the author, and a very brief
summary of the book (one or two sentences). The second paragraph tells us what the book is
about. Things that could be included in this paragraph are information about the characters,
the plot or what happened, the setting, etc. The third paragraph tells us what you like about
the book you read. The fourth paragraph tells us about the book’s message or theme.
Remember not to tell us how the book ends, we should want to do that from what you tell us in
your book review.
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Trading Card--Produce a trading card for the person your book is about. This card should be
similar to what you would find on a trading card (such as baseball, basketball, Pokémon)-information, statistics, dates, important events, interesting facts, etc. Use 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of
paper folded in half so that it's 8 1/2 x 5 1/2. On the front include a drawing of the person,
name, birth and death dates and places. The back should have all of the written information.
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Diary-- If the subject of your biography had kept a diary, what do you think he or she would
have written about? Put yourself in the person's shoes for this assignment. Choose three
important events from that person's life and write a half page diary entry about each.
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Scrap Book-- After reading the book, imagine that you are a photojournalist who took
photographs of everything in your book. Choose four of these photos to include in an album.
The photos should show the most important people, places, events, or objects from the story.
You will draw the photo or take an actual photo of items that relate to your book and write a
caption for each. In the caption, explain why the image shown is important in the book.
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Oral Report--Present to the class what you learned from reading this book. Teach them about
the topic so that they learn something new and are entertained. This report should be five
minutes in length and should be presented and not read to the class.
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Wanted Poster--After reading the book, choose one of the characters in the book and make a
wanted poster for him or her. These wanted posters are just like the ones you would see in
the Old West or a wanted poster today. Your poster should include: a drawing of the
character, a physical description, the character's deeds or misdeeds, other information about
the character that is important, the name of the book and author.
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Greeting Card Project--Think about the characters in your novel. Imagine that one character is
sending a card to another character. What kind of card would the character send and why?
o Choices of cards: Birthday, Sympathy, Thank You, Get Well, Friendship, Anniversary,
Retirement, New Baby, Valentine's Day, Miss You. Then: 1.Create a card to one
character in your novel to another character including a written message to the
character. 2.On a separate sheet of paper, include the following: The title and date of
publication, a paragraph explaining why you created the card you did, and a paragraph,
explaining the importance of this choice and how the novel would be different if the card
had actually been sent.
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News Reporter-- For this project, you'll create the front page of a newspaper with two articles
based on your science fiction book. You'll report one event that happened in the story and one
event that you've made up.
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Travel Brochure--You will be creating a travel brochure advertising the setting of the story.
You must include 4 pictures of your setting/events that happen within the story. The cover
should include:Name of book, author and a picture of the overall setting of the book. The
inside should contain the following:Who are the guides of this trip, what types of things can
people do while in the area what types of adventures will the main characters take them on,
where will they stay and how will they get to the location. The entire brochure must be in color,
either hand- drawn or computer generated.
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PowerPoint Presentation--Create a PowerPoint to tell us about your book. Your presentation
should have at least five slides with information and pictures. 1. Title and author 2. Characters
3. Setting 4. Summary of the book 5. Your favorite part.
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Book to Movie--If you have read a book that has then become a movie, develop a Venn
diagram to compare and contrast the book to its movie then write a paragraph describing the
main differences and similarities. Make sure to list the year and production company of the
movie.Make sure to read the original story, not tan adapted version or a movie to book.
Other--Come up with your own project that shows a summary of the book you read. Be creative, but
check with your teacher BEFORE you start to make sure it will be accepted.
One project can be in a written report form as follows:
How to Write a Book Report
Book reports are a way to show how well you understood a book and to tell what you think about it.
Introduction (Paragraph #1: 4-5 sentences)
 The title (underlined) and author of the book.
 Why you chose the book.
 What kind of story is it? (adventure? family? fantasy/make believe? animal? true life? scary?)
Body (Paragraphs #2-6: 4-5 sentences each)
In this section you want to describe the main parts of a story: theme, plot, setting, and characters.
Then you can give your opinions about the book.
(2) The Theme is the main idea of the story. Some examples might be the importance of friendship or
how to be courageous in a difficult situation. Tell what you think the theme is and how you know.
(3) The Setting is the time and place of the story. Is it set a long time ago or now. Does it take place
in another country or in an imaginary place? How much time passes in the story—a day? a year? a
lifetime?
(4) The Plot is what happens. You want to tell what the story is mostly about. What is the main event
or conflict? What things lead up to it? What happens as a result? How does the story end?
(Sometimes you want to avoid telling the ending, or giving away the secrets of the story.)
Be careful not to re-tell the whole story in detail—you want room in your report to write about other
things; instead, just say enough about it so the rest of your report will make sense.
(5) The Characters are who the story is about. The main character is called the protagonist. Who are
the other important characters? Do they help or hinder the protagonist?
(6) Once you have summarized the book, you can tell what you think about it. You can write about
whatever opinions you have. Some questions you might want to answer are:
 Did you like the story? Why or why not?
 What was the best part of the book? Why?
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How did the story make you feel? Did you feel different things at different points in the story?
Would you recommend it to friends?
Would you read other books by this author?
What new things did you learn from this book?
Conclusion (Paragraph #7: 1-2 sentences)
This is just a sentence or two to sum up your report. Give your overall opinion of the book and the
most important thing you want other people to know about it.
Grading rubric for projects:
Each book report/project is worth 50 points. Your score will be based on the
following:
 10 points-Did I use the appropriate materials?
 10 points-Did I use an adequate amount of time to prepare
(30 minutes)
 10 points-Did I do quality work?
 10 points-Did I follow the directions?
 10 points-Did I present correctly?
(Speak clearly for all to hear, 1-2 minutes long
 Did I turn it in on time? (-5 points for every week turned in late)
Suggested Books
If you need some ideas for books to read, here are a few suggestions! If you have a great book you'd love to suggest, let
us know and we'll add it to the list!
Fantasy
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Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
The Kane Chronicles series by Rick Riordan
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynn Reid Banks
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
Mystery
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The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Ren Wright
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
Historical Fiction
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My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
The Witch at Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Esperanza Rising Pam Munoz
Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Letters from Rifka by Karen Hesse
Non-fiction
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Pick a topic that interests you or the you would like to know more about!
Realistic Fiction
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Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Rules by Cynthia Lord
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
Frindle by Andrew Clement
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Holes by Louis Sachar
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
Choosing Up Sides by John Ridder
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
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Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Science Fiction
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Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Aliens Ate My Homework by Bruce Coville
Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Biography
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Pick a person that interests you or that you would like to know more about!